Moby Dick

Released Jun 27, 1956

1h 56m

Adventure

List

81%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

74%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

Capt. Ahab (Gregory Peck) has a vendetta against Moby Dick, the great white whale responsible for taking his leg. He sets out on a treacherous sea voyage aboard The Pequod, along with a crew including Starbuck (Leo Genn), Father Mapple (James Robertson Justice) and Ishmael (Richard Basehart), to hunt down the elusive beast. With reckless abandon, Ahab leads the crew on his obsessive and suicidal quest, anxious for a final showdown with the legendary white whale.

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Critics Consensus

It may favor spectacle in place of the deeper themes in Herman Melville's novel, but John Huston's Moby Dick still makes for a grand movie adventure.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

One could have plenty of quarrels with this as an adaptation of the Herman Melville novel, but it's still one of the better John Huston films of the 50s.

Aug 5, 2011

Full Review

TIME Magazine

Moby Dick is certainly the most unusual picture of the year and may well be the best.

Aug 5, 2011

Full Review

Ian Nathan

Empire Magazine

The film takes flight as a grand chase movie, and leaves its ambition in its wake.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 5, 2011

Full Review

Francois Truffaut

Arts (France)

Too often, John Huston offers us, instead of creatures made of flesh and blood, only colorless beings who come onto the screen to deliver one or two aphorisms before going out of focus.

Feb 14, 2024

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Director John Huston and screenwriter Ray Bradbury teamed up (and feuded aplenty) to wrestle Herman Melville’s literary classic Moby-Dick to the screen, with results both fascinating and flawed.

Rated: 3/4

May 9, 2023

Full Review

Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

…a neglected masterpiece…

Rated: 4/5

Dec 30, 2022

Full Review

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Rick R

GOOD WRITTING, GOOD STORY, GOOD DIRECTOR, GOOD ACTING, A VERY ENTERTAINING MOVIE !!!!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

james g

Best part of novel, the opening scenes of Queeheg and Ishmael getting acquainted, hanging out, selecting a ship, etc., are for the most part overlooked. (Ishmael quaking in bed is silly.} But once Gregory Peck shows up, (and surprisingly he's very good here!) it's Peck's movie. And special effects (No digital stuff} are GREAT! It's 1956, and the titular whale is more convincing than Jaws 20 years later. Better than I expected, as good or better overall than the odd book.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

delysid d

as soon as i saw that gregory peck was the star of this film, i knew it would be great. and it was great.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/06/22

Full Review

Audience Member

An authentic adaptation of the novel. Uses direct quotes from the novel and keeps the original themes intact. Might get a bit fast or hammy sometimes.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A whale bites a guy's leg off, he gets really mad and can't forget about it. Gregory Peck provides his standard wooden performance. The whale is ok. Since almost no one has read this tedious tome, watching the movie is a relatively painless way of being exposed to a famous literary work.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

dustin d

I agree with the sentiment expressed by actual critics this film is not quite great.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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John Huston

Director

Gregory Peck

Captain Ahab

Richard Basehart

Ishmael

Leo Genn

Starbuck

James Robertson Justice

Captain Boomer

Harry Andrews

Stubb

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Synopsis

Capt. Ahab (Gregory Peck) has a vendetta against Moby Dick, the great white whale responsible for taking his leg. He sets out on a treacherous sea voyage aboard The Pequod, along with a crew including Starbuck (Leo Genn), Father Mapple (James Robertson Justice) and Ishmael (Richard Basehart), to hunt down the elusive beast. With reckless abandon, Ahab leads the crew on his obsessive and suicidal quest, anxious for a final showdown with the legendary white whale.

Director: John Huston
Producer: John Huston
Screenwriter: Herman Melville, Ray Bradbury, John Huston
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures, United Artists, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Warner Home Vídeo
Production Co: Moulin Productions Inc.
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 27, 1956, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 13, 2017
Runtime: 1h 56m

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